Monterey County registrar of voters resigns

Monterey County Registrar of Voters Linda Tulett is resigning her job at the helm of the elections department as of July 5.

Tulett, who started in the job in May 2007, tendered her resignation within the past two weeks, saying she had been thinking about a career change "for some time and wanted to do that," said County Administrative Officer Lew Bauman.

"We're sorry to see her go," Bauman said Thursday. "She did a fantastic job and turned that department around."

Tulett, 47, took over county elections operations after her predecessor, Tony Anchundo, resigned in April 2006 and subsequently served a jail sentence for misusing county-issued credit calls.

Tulett had been a deputy director of elections in San Francisco for three years before coming to Monterey County.

Bauman said recruitment for a new registrar would start in a few weeks. Meanwhile, the department will be overseen by long-time deputy Claudio Valenzuela and assistant administrative officer Manuel Gonzalez, he said.

The current annual salary range for county registrar is $104,400 to $142,600.

Bauman said the job "is a very high stress position" because of always-changing electoral laws, emotions and pressures surrounding many elections, and the county's status as a pre-clearance county under the federal Voting Rights Act.